Ada boys KO Stigler with big second half

Jeff Cali, The Ada News, Okla.
·3 min read

Feb. 24—It was almost like the 11th-ranked Ada High boys basketball team was toying with Stigler for the better part of the first half. And then the Cougars got serious.

Coach Kyle Caufield saw his team limit Stigler to 11 total points in the second half and the Cougars broke open a tight game and rolled past the Panthers 65-35 in a Class 4A District Tournament title game Monday night inside the Cougar Activity Center.

The Cougars improved to 13-7 and will face the winner of a district matchup between Blanchard and Madill in a Class 4A Regional Tournament winner's bracket game at 8 p.m. Thursday in another home game. Stigler has now lost eight straight games and fell to 4-12.

Scrappy Stigler went toe-to-toe with the Cougars for most of the first half. After Zane Oldham buried a 3-pointer at the 2:42 mark of the second quarter, Stigler had pulled within 25-22.

Andrew Hughes scored the final five Ada points of the second period and his late putback put the hosts on top 30-24 at halftime.

Hughes, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds in a solid outing for the Cougars, hit a fallaway jumper in the closing seconds of the third quarter that put his team ahead 43-30.

Ada finished the game on a 22-5 surge.

David Johnson led a balanced AHS attack with 13 points and seven rebounds. Jack Morris scored 13 points off the bench for Ada and grabbed six rebounds.

Junior standout Kaden Cooper spent most of his night running the Ada offense. He finished with eight points, 12 rebounds, three steals, four blocked shots, a monstrous one-handed dunk and four assists.

Both Wyatt Brown and Devon MacCollister scored six points for the home team.

Three players hit double figures for the Panthers. Oldham finished with 12 points to lead the way, while Will Rose followed with 11 — including a 3-for-5 showing from 3-point range. Ridge McClary scored 10 points for the visitors.

Ada finished 12-of-17 from the free-throw line while Stigler went just 4-of-12. Ada committed just seven total turnovers and had just two in the first half. Stigler finished with 12 turnovers.

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By The Numbers

CLASS 4A DISTRICT

Championship

Ada 65, Stigler 35

STIGLER 15 9 6 5 — 35

ADA 19 11 13 22 — 65

STIGLER: Zane Oldham 4-21, 2-4, 12; Will Rose 4-10, 0-0, 11; Ridge McClary 4-14, 2-2, 10; Grayson Gilmore 1-4, 0-6, 2. Totals: 13-58, 4-12, 35.

ADA: David Johnson 6-12, 1-3, 13; Jack Morris 6-11, 0-0, 13; Andrew Hughes 4-7, 3-4, 11; Kaden Cooper 3-8, 2-2, 8; Wyatt Brown 2-7, 2-4, 6; Devon MacCollister 2-3, 2-2, 6; Caden Carry 1-1, 0-0, 2; Camryn Reed 1-7, 0-0, 2; Caden Ross 0-0, 2-2, 2; Johsua Murray 1-1, 0-0, 2. Totals: 26-56, 12-17, 65.

Turnovers: Stigler 12, Ada 7.

Steals: Stigler 3, Ada 6 (Cooper 3).

Rebounds: Stigler 38 (Gilmore 7); Ada 50 (Cooper 12, Hughes 7, Johnson 7).

3-point goals: Stigler 5-17 (Oldham 2-5, Rose 3-5); Ada 1-11 (Morris 1-4).

Fouled out: None.